India plans wind, solar auctions for 20 GW through March

Welspung solar park in Madhya Pradesh. Source: Welspun Renewables.

November 27 (Renewables Now) - Tenders for at least 3 GW of wind and up to 17 GW of solar power capacity will be held in India by the end of the current fiscal year, or through March 2018, in line with the country's 175-GW renewable target for 2022.

In a clean energy roadmap, released on Friday, the Indian government outlined its strategy for reaching 100 GW of photovoltaic (PV) and 60 GW of wind power capacity by 2022. In the end of the current fiscal year, a total of 20 GW of solar capacity will be tendered, including 3.6 GW that have already been bid out. The plan envisages two tenders of 3 GW each in December 2017 and January 2018, while an additional 11 GW will be tendered in two portions February in March.

For each of FY 2018/19 and FY 2019/20 the tendered solar capacity will be 30 GW.

Meanwhile, on the wind front India has already issued tenders for 5 GW of capacity, including the one for 2 GW unveiled last week. Between 1.5 GW and 2 GW of capacity will be auctioned in January and then the same amount will be tendered in March. Bids for an additional 10 GW per year will be launched in each of FY 2018/19 and FY 2019/20.

India has crossed the line for half of the targeted wind capacity, having commissioned 32 GW of parks so far. The country is in a process of transitioning from feed-in tariffs (FiTs) to auctions in the wind sector. Wind tariffs reached record-low levels of INR 2.64 (USD 0.041/EUR 0.034) per kWh in 1-GW national tender in October.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) is also planning to issue an expression of interest (EoI) for setting up 20 GW of manufacturing facilities for the renewables sector and is “exploring innovative ways” for the addition of more renewables capacity through floating solar plants, offshore wind farms and hybrid installations.

Veselina Petrova is one of SeeNews Renewables most experienced green energy writers. For several years she has been keeping track of game-changing events both large and small projects and across the globe.